Court win for Samsung after hammering by Apple

A Japanese court has rejected patent claims made by Apple against Samsung, a victory for the latter company after its crushing defeat in the US last week and a reminder of the global scope of the patent war between the two technology giants.

While Apple prevailed over Samsung in the US, winning $US1 billion in damages from a federal jury, the two companies remain neck-and-neck in legal disputes in almost a dozen countries. For example, a judge in South Korea, where Samsung is based, handed down a split decision in a patent case shortly before the jury verdict in the US case.

“Internationally, it’s been a mixed picture for Apple,” James Bessen, economist and lecturer at the Boston University School of Law, said. “Part of that is because most other countries don’t have the same attitude toward software patenting that the US has.”

For both companies, Japan makes up a far smaller proportion of sales than the all-important American market. But the Tokyo ruling suggests that despite Apple’s victory last week, the jostling between the two companies for the upper hand in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet businesses is just beginning.

The Tokyo District Court ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets did not violate an Apple patent on technology that synchronises music and videos between devices and servers. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, sued Samsung in Tokyo last year in a case that sought ¥100 million ($1.23 million) in damages.

That is a far cry from the billions in damages that Apple had sought from Samsung in federal court in San Jose, California. A nine-member jury there ultimately decided on an award of $US1 billion after several days of deliberation.

Some law professors who have studied international patent disputes say the outcome of that case may be unique in the global tussle between the two companies. Mr. Bessen said that’s partly because the United States is the only major jurisdiction where patent disputes are heard before juries, and foreign companies often face a higher risk of losing cases in such a setting.

“I wouldn’t expect there to be a lot of judgments like this one,” said Ronald A. Cass, a former law professor and vice chairman of the International Trade Commission, who is now a legal consultant.

Apple has filed other patent suits in Japan against Samsung, including one claiming that the Korean company copied the bounce-back effect when a user scrolls to the end of a list on the iPhone and iPad. And Apple has asked for an injunction that would prevent Samsung from shipping some Galaxy smartphones to Japan. Samsung has also sued Apple in Japan, asserting that both the iPhone and iPad infringe on Samsung patents.

In a statement, Samsung Electronics, based in Suwon, South Korea, said the ruling had validated its claims that it had not copied Apple.

“Samsung has strongly asserted that its technology is altogether different and does not infringe on Apple patents. The ruling recognizes the legitimacy of Samsung’s assertions and is highly valid,” it said.

Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Apple hardly needs a lift in Japan. The iPhone was the top-selling smartphone there in 2011, while Samsung’s Galaxy series trailed in the No. 5 spot — behind smartphones made by Sharp, Fujitsu and Sony, according to the MM Research Institute, based in Tokyo. Globally, however, Samsung is the largest smartphone maker.

But even in Japan, the operating system most commonly used by Samsung and other smartphone makers, Android from Google, has grown steadily, posing a challenge to Apple. Android captured 58 percent of the Japanese market in the first quarter of 2012, compared with the 38 percent market share claimed by Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS, according to the research firm Nielsen.

Many analysts see Apple’s suits against Samsung as a proxy battle against Google and Android, which Apple has called a copy of iOS.

The patent war between Apple and Google has set off a debate about the future of technological innovation — one that has intensified since the jury in California ruled in Apple’s favor. The jury said Samsung smartphone and tablet products violated Apple’s patents protecting designs and functions, including the rectangular shape and rounded edges of the iPhone.

Some experts say such rulings will force smartphone makers to focus on innovating rather than copying, while others say designers could now be stifled by the need to constantly second-guess whether new designs or functions violate other companies’ patents.

Meanwhile, Japanese electronics makers have figured little in the smartphone patent wars, underscoring how negligible a threat they now pose to either Apple or Samsung in the sector.

Samsung, the world’s largest seller of smartphones, and Apple, the world’s second-largest, together control a little more than 50 percent of the global smartphone market, the research firm Strategy Analytics has said.

Japanese smartphone makers like Sharp and Fujitsu, on the other hand, have little presence beyond Japan’s shores.